Memories and Missions
by Kalira69
Summary: Neji has returned from a messy mission, but this time one that left his soul soothed rather than troubled and in need of his lover's calming influence.


Neji's half-doze faded a little as another presence slipped into the bedroom.

Mark of how familiar he was, and how much Neji trusted him, that it had taken _that_ long, rather than jarring him awake as soon as the front door opened. Chakra that was strong and hot, but messy - uncontrolled. Neji never would have thought the feeling could be comfortable to him, when he was younger.

The bed dipped beside him, slowly.

"Mmm. . ." Neji stirred just a little, tilting his head. "Lee." he purred lazily without opening his eyes.

Lee's hands smoothed up his arms to his shoulders, and Neji laughed sleepily as he settled close, warm and solid. He nuzzled the nape of Neji's neck, practically lying on top of him. "Hello, my love."

Neji shifted, pushing against Lee's chest with one elbow, shifting his lover's weight off slightly.

Lee made a low sound a little like a disappointed puppy, but took the movement with equanimity anyway, curling against Neji's shoulder with a low hum instead. Neji worked his arm free from between them and looped it over Lee's waist. "Welcome home." Neji mumbled.

Lee snuggled close, pushing his face against Neji's shoulder and yawning. "Welcome home to you, my love." he said, his own voice low and thick. Neji wasn't the only one tired and ready for sleep. "Your mission went well?"

Neji mumbled something that probably wasn't terribly informative - he wasn't even sure all of the words he'd thought had made it to his tongue - and tugged Lee closer. He was heavy - _solid_ , though he was still more slender than Neji - but he moved easily with the silent request, one warm hand sliding over Neji's hip as he relaxed again, sinking into the mattress.

"I am glad." Lee said, fingertips running up and down along Neji's hip. "Though of course a shinobi must fulfil his duty no matter what is required, you have returned . . . troubled from too many missions lately." His voice was soft with regret.

Neji sighed. It might be true, but he didn't particularly want to dwell on it. This one, at least, had left him . . . untroubled. Neji had felt not a single iota of regret or sympathy for the nuke-nin he had been commissioned to assassinate. His jaw tightened at the thought of the man even as he shifted his cheek against his pillow, trying to get comfortable.

Neji had been sent to aid in the recovery and reconstruction efforts of several villages along the Fire Country border in the last few years that had been decimated by the ninja Neji had just taken out, and those who had fallen in with him.

Neji even might go so far as to say he was pleased with this last assignment - not just as another successful mission completion but at the task itself. He growled quietly, too-vivid memories flashing through his mind - mired in mud and ashes nearly to the hips, hauling crying and burned civilian children out of the mess, returning them to parents or whoever else could be found, hunting through scorched and battle-torn woods trying to find whole families. . .

Neji had helped with the reconstruction, too, but not until every civilian had either been found or called as permanently missing. Byakugan meant Neji was always on search teams. He wasn't good at building, nor did he much care for it, but . . . search teams were painful, sometimes.

A soft, nuzzling kiss to the crook of his neck helped dispel those memories - eventually search teams stopped turning up civilians in need of help and started finding only bodies; the longer it went on the worse it became - and Neji rolled off his stomach and towards his lover.

Both of Lee's arms came up around him, closing tightly. "Now you seem troubled again." he said softly, pressing another kiss to the soft hollow just beneath Neji's jaw. "What is wrong, my love?" he asked, not pulling away.

Neji's lips twisted, and he nuzzled into Lee's shoulder, hiding his face as though Lee's body - or perhaps just _Lee_ himself, earnest, sweet, and strong - could block out the horrible things in Neji's own memories. "This mission," he paused, "it was not bad. But it reminds me of ones that were." he said carefully.

Lee was completely trustworthy, of course, but Neji couldn't tell him about missions assigned to Hawk. He might know when Neji _had_ them - it was difficult to hide taking ANBU missions entirely from a partner, particularly one who was also a jounin - but he couldn't know details.

"I am sorry." Lee said simply, and Neji huffed, lips twitching into a smile.

"You make them better." Neji said, which he wouldn't have been able to voice five years ago. Might not have said it now, if he hadn't been so tired and worn. Lax with it and relieved to be where he was, held snugly in his lover's arms. "I'm glad to be home."

Lee hugged him tighter, lips brushing his cheek. "I am glad you are home. I am glad I can help you." he added, and Neji nodded, rubbing one hand up and down Lee's spine.

Lee always did. Lee had been with him in the messy ruins of several of the villages Neji was remembering, one of the dozen or more ninja assigned to teams there. He had been seemingly everywhere at once, never tiring, saddened but determined to help, baffling people and raising their spirits at once.

And somehow Lee never crumpled at the end of the day, or the end of the mission, though such an optimistic, kind person seemed like they should not come through those days so easily.

Instead he had been there to cheer the rest of them again when they crumpled and faded themselves. Welcomed Neji into comfortingly solid, warm arms and held him, dusted kisses up and down his neck and distracted - soothed - him until the Byakugan-induced migraine from all-day searches faded and he slept. Still there to do the same when he woke, throat thick with nausea or unvoiced cries, from the nightmares the searches left him with. Sometimes even kept them away entirely with his presence.

Lee kissed his throat and stroked his back, and Neji sighed, thinking of the choking, bloody last breaths of the nuke-nin he had killed and grinning, tiny and sharp.

Neji's sleep was serene that night, and not only because of Lee's comforting presence.


End file.
